The question for most Internet Marketers is should you be making money on Social Sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace? These are the top three most used sites although other sites like Linkedin, YouTube, Pownce, Yahoo, Delicious and Friendster to name a few have their following as well.

With these Social Sites acting as a Cyber Worldwide meeting place, the question for all network marketers is how and should I try to monetize my use of these sites? Often, if you are a member of these site you will see posts advertising their business opportunity or product disguised cleverly at times and very obvious at other times. These are usually the persons you don’t quite understand the Psychology of the prospective customer or recruits that they are targeting.

It has become apparent to many Top Producing Internet Marketers that a lot of money should, can and will be made on these sites. The question that is giving many marketers problems is how to monetize these sites without being perceived as the proverbial used car salesman trying to sell anything to everyone in site! The truth of this matter is that the majority of the subscribers to these sites are doing exactly that.

There are some, a small number of individuals who have learned the secrete techniques of making money on Twitter and Facebook and Likedin. MySpace has become more of a Social Site for individuals who wish to share their own brand of interests and points of view, A Place where they feel they can be themselves with total anonymity. Many experienced Internet Marketers do not try to Market on MySpace.

The Technique that works on Social Sites to make money is to Network. Networking means building a relationship with those who share the same interests and want to achieve the same things as you do. This takes time to develop just like any new relationship. The foundation for any successful relationship is Trust, Honesty, Communication and Bringing Value to the relationship.

There is a basic truth in Network Marketing and Direct Sales. That truth is People buy from People! They, you prospective buyer or recruit must feel that they can trust you. They must feel that you can bring Value to there lives and help them to get what they want. They want to be sure that you will be honest with them and not tell them anything just to get on their good side so you can use them. This is all accomplished by communicating with them on a continual basis and giving value to the relationship.

To often the marketer forgets that no one likes to be sold or pressured every time they see you or hear from you. Always having something to sell them. They forget the psychology of why people buy and join. They forget to put themselves into the shoes of these people they are trying so hard to sell or recruit. This method may get some results, but the fact of the matter is, overall they will do poorly.

When you network, you build relationships that should last a lifetime. If you take the time and help others to succeed by connecting them with others that can help them succeed and don’t worry what’s in it for you, then you can start to build value into the relationship. If you can teach or share knowledge that will help them and not try and sell them the information, you will build trust and loyalty. If you don’t try to sell them every time they see or hear from you then they will begin to really like you. If you can share moments about yourself, your family or that trip you just took, you are developing friendship. This is the art of Networking.

Making money on the Social Sites like Twitter, Facebook and others is not only a Smart Marketing Campaign, it is also the best way to make life long friends and develop a massive network. A network that will allow you to succeed in many ares of Internet Marketing the rest of your life.

To have a website, you need web space on a server. A web host provides this space so you are the proud owner of active online real estate. But what is reseller hosting and how can it mean profits for you?

As an online entrepreneur, you realize Internet businesses are constantly opening, growing and changing. A resellers is a person who sells web space on someone else’s server. In essence, you are a middle person. With so many people creating websites, there are serious profits to be made with reseller hosting.

You simply create your own website to offer web hosting services. Clients can get a domain name and start websites on your hosting service. You are not responsible for maintaining servers because you are reselling web hosting services. As a reseller, you appreciate profits without having to deal with the detailed technical issues.

Hosting resellers can sign up as an enom reseller to receive domain registrations at a discounted price. You can then offer domain registrations to your own customers through a master billing system or by creating your own domain registration turnkey website.

So how can you begin your own reseller hosting business? Here is a simple guide to get started:

– Select an easy-to-use platform and control panel for your hosting accounts.

– Choose a reliable web hosting company with outstanding support for your reseller account.

– Set up your own hosting plan and determine the prices you want to charge based on services you offer and the prices charged by the competition.

– Create a business website with a navigable design featuring your new web hosting enterprise.

– Make sure your website is ready for business with a merchant account, payment gateway and SSL certificate for complete security.

– Set up customer service options such as a help desk.

– Set up a billing system.

– Create a welcome email that will be sent to all new web hosting clients to confirm their user name and password along with a confirmation of the plan details.

– Advertise your new reseller hosting business so you can make profits.

The reseller hosting business is one of the hottest, most profitable industries on the Internet today.

What is the importance of the Internet marketing? In the last few years Internet marketing has developed at a very fast pace. Every one is using their computer in every situation possible. Even if they are at work, or in their homes, the computers and the connection with the Internet became the main way to communicate and to get informed. There are online news- magazines, socialization sites and many others. You can promote your business through the Internet with the help of your blog, or other websites.

You can even do that through mail. It is the best way to interact with your clients and build strong business relationships with them. Beside that it may be the most comfortable way to do marketing and the most effective. And if you take in consideration the costs of this way of marketing, the Internet marketing can be considered the most inexpensive way to promote your businesses.

The results of this type of marketing are showing up much faster, and you can reach clients all over the world with the help of the Internet. You are not limited by anything. And now, after we made a brief description of what Internet marketing can mean for our business, we can start talking about the second topic of this article which is how to make money with AdSense. What is this exactly? Its called Google AdSense to earn money you can post different ads on your websites and when someone clicks on the ads you earn money.

Nothing can be earned without work The very first thing you must assure yourself, is that your website has enough visitors meaning traffic the more traffic the more earnings from Google AdSense you must promote your website in all the best ways possible. You should place the Google ads so they can not be ignored by visitors. Not everyone that is visiting your website will be tempted to click the ads. Place the ads on site in such positions so the visitors will be tempted in clicking the ads. Above are just some of the ideas you should know about when making money Online with Google AdSense.

The price of amber is determined by the different life forms which are found in the stone. Intact insects, plants, flowers etc will increase the value of amber and these stones will be highly priced. Typically, an amber necklace with say, a trapped dragonfly, will have a high price and will enjoy a heavy demand in the market.

The prices of these gems can vary depending upon the clarity, color, polish and size of the piece. The prices mentioned in this article are in general for gems of fairly good color and good clarity. Opaque pieces of amber can usually be bought quite cheap – for as much as $0.10 to $1 for a carat or less. For pieces around an inch in size and with insect inclusions, the prices can range from $50 to $60. An average stone of a good size and with inclusions would cost around $195.

Good wholesale quality beads can also be purchased for as low as $15. Shapeless and uneven pieces without any fossil inclusions ranging from 1 to 1.5 inches in size and weighing around 10 to 12 carats would cost anywhere between $30 to $40. Polished beads without any inclusions of about 1 centimeter usually cost from $1 to $2 per carat.

Many a times, this gem is heated to give it an old or aged look. These pieces usually cost less compared to a similar piece having the original color.

Amber pieces with unusual flora and fauna are a collector’s item. Fossils in this gem always increase its value and beauty. A pendant with inclusions is guaranteed to get a good price in the market. A carved ring is also very highly priced in the market.

A significant difference in the price of the amber is made depending on the period from which the amber originates from. The older the gemstone, the higher is its price. However, it is not easy to identify the age of the stone. Most gemological laboratories also do not often certify amber gemstones. The process of finding out the age of the amber stone involves identifying the inclusions present in the stone and estimating the period in which it existed.

There is an interesting piece of news about a piece of Dominican amber with inclusions. Recently, such a piece with a large lizard trapped inside it was sold for $ 75000. This figure cannot really give us a hint of how high a price this gemstone can fetch.

In fact, the amount of history associated with amber jewelry would only serve to increase its market value. Similarly, antique jewelry or a pendant with insect is very highly valued in the market.

There are frequent attempts made in the market to sell amber ‘simulants’ as genuine amber. Simulants of this gem include ambroid, copal resin, kauri gum, dammar, celluloid and plastic. These simulants would normally cost a fraction of what a real stone costs.

Thus, we can see that the price of this gemstone mostly depends upon factors such as age, inclusions, quality and size.

Historically speaking, Betta Fish are said to have gotten their name from an ancient clan of Asian warriors called the “Bettah.” They were given these warriors’ names because about 150 years ago people enjoyed participating in a popular sport that involved the fighting of two of these warrior fish. (In fact, the sport was so popular that it was regulated – and taxed – by the King of Siam!)

One interesting note about Betta fish fighting is that, unlike cock or dog fighting in the west, at Siamese fighting fish tournaments, the actual fight was more to test the bravery of the fish, rather than a fight to see how much damage would be inflicted, or a death match.

Spectators bet on how long a particular fish would fight, and which one would give up first. (In fact, most fish would only fight once or twice, and then live out the remainder of their lives being pampered and used for breeding.)

Natural Habitat

A Betta fish’s natural habitat is in shallow, tropical water. This is because they need to be able to surface frequently, in order to breathe air. They can be found in nature in rice paddies, drainage ditches, slow moving streams and fresh water ponds. Betta fish have even been known thrive in large puddles! Their natural food source is insects and mosquito larvae.

How Breeding Began

According to historical accounts, a close friend of the King of Siam, Dr. Theodore Cantor received a pair of breeding Bettas from the king in 1840. The doctor bred them and studied them for several years, and then wrote a scientific paper about them, giving them a Latin name of “Macropodus Pugnax.” However, shortly after his paper was published, Dr. Cantor discovered that a species by that name already existed, and so the fish were renamed “Betta Splendens.”

Several breeding pairs of Bettas where sent to Germany in 1896 and then in 1910, Mr. Frank Locke of San Francisco California imported several Bettas to the U.S.A.

One of the fish that he received had unusual red fins – and he excitedly thought he had discovered a new species, and named it “Betta Cambodia.” In reality, he had one of the first of the Betta splendens that had naturally developed new colors and characteristics through breeding.

Since that time, breeders have been able to develop Bettas with all of the vibrant coloring and varied fin shapes that we find today. Betta breeding has become a profitable and ongoing passion for many people today, many of whom started with just one or two Bettas in a small aquarium.

In the past few years the Hollywood interest in comic book films has continued to crescendo with huge critical and financial successes such as the Spiderman, Iron Man, and Batman franchises. Aside from being overly saturated by testosterone, such hits have lined summers with blockbuster after blockbuster by sticking to a generic story telling structure of origin stories and world threatening conflict to provide enough action to coerce the adrenaline to come out and frolic. But top tier names are only so plentiful, so the surge in comic book popularity led to various graphic novels getting translations to the silver screen in the form of Watchmen, Sin City, and most recently Kick-Ass. These films focus heavily on action, but the visual flourishes in these films are much more prominent and distinctly separate them form the larger hyped films. So when a director whose claim to fame is his astounding ability to deftly blend genres tackles a film that asks him to combine the entertainment of high action sequences with the charm of a niche graphic novel when I reach a killscreen am I going to want to press continue?

Edgar Wright’s follow up to Hot Fuzz details the life of titular protagonist Scott Pilgrim as he literally fights for the love of Ramona Flowers whilst seeking success with his band Sex Bob-Omb. So, naturally, the film is an action film, correct? Well, not exactly. Edgar Wright makes comedies, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is stuffed to the brim with more big laughs and subtle touches than I have had the pleasure of seeing since Superbad. But the film, it’s certainly not a comedy, as the central relationship is far too much of a driving force. So essentially Scott Pilgrim is a video game meets a graphic novel makes love to a comedy spawns a romance and genetically engineers an action film, donning a musical thong. So I can naturally expect this film to have tonal inconsistencies, but Wright avoids this incredibly common pitfall by keeping the film moving at such a rapid pace, and really packing each and every frame with such a completely realized vision that it never has time to stray from the mood set from the opening Universal logo.

What I notice in this film, and even in Wright’s former films, is exactly how much care is placed in every shot. Each use of pixelation, each blur, every censor, all the logos and the outfits, they all establish the world so perfectly. The visual aesthetic works wonderfully with the editing and other visual flairs of the film which include segments that play out at graphic novels and other forms of visual media. But what stands out the most on a visual level is the jaw dropping fight sequences. Each one plays out so differently and allows Wright to showcase a range of film making techniques and styles that synthesize action with comedy, even meshing with music when the script calls for more flashy fights. The more time I have to sit with these sequences and really consider how visually intensive the scenes are, while still maintaining a delightfully charming low budget look, the more I admire the film.

And of course there’s the soundtrack. Anchored by Beck and Broken Social Scene serving a stand ins for Sex Bob-Omb and Crash and the Boys, respectively, the variety of sounds are an absolute delight while still feeling natural and unforced in the context of the film. But not only do the songs serve the overall tone of the film, they also enhance the action and comedy. Rarely have songs ever felt so integrally tied to a film that is not a musical. I suppose the easy comparison to make is to the score in I Am Love; despite the shift in intensity and purpose, the film is elevated incredibly by the use of a very specific type of music employed in a simply masterful manner. But beyond the soundtrack is the film’s score, a string of wonderful compositions littered with signature video game sounds that play lightly in the background of many scenes. These effects create such a wonderfully engulfing mood that I found myself completely sucked in every moment.

However, despite my gushing so far the film is certainly not without its flaws. While the film runs at a neat, and incredibly quick, two hours, I did get the feeling that a complete story is not entirely present. Now I am aware that the film is based on pre-existing source material, so I was able to fill in a few of the holes, but even with this background knowledge I did not find myself incredibly invested in all of the plot lines. Wright juggles so many characters that I was not surprised to see some catch the short end of the stick. The Kim character is treated as such a removed character that one of the emotional pay offs does not work much at all. Perhaps having her not be important is meant to show the distance between her and Scott, which does add up but still does not make the plot nearly as satisfying as many of the other threads running throughout the film. The movie needs room to breathe, to completely bring life to all of these characters, and to better reinforce the intensity of the central romance. These aspects are not the strongest, but one of the strengths in O’Malley’s series of graphic novels is in the ability to insert quietly beautiful meditations on love amidst the action, and the film does capture the occasionally sickeningly, yet always infectious, feelings of human connection near perfectly.

Another aspect of the comic that is captured in the film, and can stand alone without reading any of the graphic novels, is the character of Scott Pilgrim. Scott is meant to be sympathetic, but we are also asked to realize that Scott is both ignorant to the world around him, making him kind of a self centered dick. Cera brings this sense to the character wonderfully, combined of course with Wright’s inventive way of conveying to the audience how exactly Scott’s mind if working. As a viewer I do not always condone Scott’s actions, but I can understand them, and the commentary on the illogical human mind is wonderfully woven in to the film, as well as the idea of a society that promotes such behavior. Of course these qualities all rely on the right type of delivery and Michael Cera further cements his status as the best comedic actor of all time by perfectly delivering Scott’s lines while still conveying his disconnect with his environment. For much of the film Cera does remain in his comfort zone, and the film does really benefit from him doing so, but he does also have big scenes in the action sequences and he further proves his ability to be legitimate ‘actor,’ depending on one’s definition of the art form. Scott is not the drastic change that the Dillinger character is in Youth in Revolt, but not only is he in top form in this film, his ability to work with the fight choreography, both on the ass kicking and ass kicked ends, is simply stunning and further sells what are likely the most enjoyable action sequences I have ever seen.

The film’s diverse cast also boasts a ton of other talented actors, but the one that practically steals the show is Kieran Culkin. He impressed me in Lymelife, though I was certainly not prepared for simply how excellent he would be in the role of Wallace Wells, Scott’s roommate. He floats through scenes with such poise and precision, delivering his dialogue with such sincerity and charm. His performance is truly a sight to behold. Jason Schwartzman is also excellent doing Jason Schwartzman, and actually all members of the League of Evil Exes play their character uniquely and wonderfully. A few of the secondary characters in particular were a huge hit with my audience as well. The females in the film are enjoyable as well, but very few are given very much to do. I wish that more time could have been spent with Envy Adams, not only because Brie Larson is mighty pretty but also because her The Clash at Demonhead performance contains one of the best tracks in the film, and the sequence between her and Scott is even more emotionally resonant. The stand out of the females is found in the form of Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, a heartbreakingly impressionable Scott super fan girl who exists as a wonderfully satirical spin on Caucasian perspective. Many of the supporting characters play one note roles, but each and every one plays that note pitch perfect.

Coming out of the film I was unsure of exactly how much value I found in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but as I started writing about the film I not only learned that I enjoyed the film far more than I had initially imagined, but the film is also considerably more admirable than I had realized. The startlingly inventive construction and editing are enough to make Wright’s latest film a truly uniquely enjoyable experience, but the film’s ability to capture such raw moments of beauty in a minefield of laughs cements Wright’s status as one of my favorite filmmakers, despite the abysmal Shaun of the Dead, and – finally – left me completely satisfied after seeing a comedy…as much as the label is applicable. At its worst Scott Pilgrim is a masterclass of filmmaking, but this film exists, on practically every level, as a film constructed for me to love. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is imaginative, inventive, and a film that truly exists as a representation of the time which spawned it while still holding enough timeless qualities to make it one of the year’s finest.

Cider for me is the best alcoholic beverage, from when I was sipping a shared bottle of white lightning in the local park (we’ve all done it) to enjoying a cold one at the pub during the summer months it always has had the same refreshing, relaxing and rejuvenating effect. My appreciation of this beverage has lasted year after year, so this article will hope to enlighten you just a bit more on what is cider, how cider is produced, and what is is the best cider. I hope it’s useful.

Cider is a renowned drink throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland; it comes in a range of forms from the traditional dry cider to the sweet cider, which allows it to be enjoyed by a whole range of individuals.

Most apples grown are suitable for cider making, though in a region like Kent cider-makers prefer to use a mixture of eating and cider apples or just cider apples if you are in the West Country.

On collection of these apples they are immediately grounded down in to what is known as a pomace or pommage. This process back in the day would of been undertaken at cider mills by hand or using either water or horse power. These days most cider presses are electrical, with the whole process looking to ensure the pomace is only exposed to air for a limited amount of time.

After this the all important fermentation process takes place, this is done at a temperature of 4-16 degrees C, which is low for most fermentations but is beneficial to cider at this temperature. Before the fermentation process consumes all the sugar, the cider is moved to a new vat, leaving dead yeast cells and any other undesirable materials at the bottom of the old vat.

Finally the last stage of fermentation creates a small amount of carbonation, which can be enhanced by adding some extra sugar. After a three month fermentation period the cider is ready to drink, but it is commonplace to leave it in vats for up to two years.

They are then removed from the vats and bottled. In some larger-scale cider production they have ciders produced from different varieties of apple, which in this case the cider may be blended to accord with market taste. When the cider is bottled usually some extra sugar is added for sparkle. Cider bottles are normally used but some home brewers use beer bottles, which work well and are inexpensive.

The West- Country is known as a leading cider producing region and one of the best (in my opinion). The majority of ciders in this part of the United Kingdom are known as Scrumpy which is a local term for small or withered apple. They are over 25 Cider produces in Somerset and then following is Cornwall who is another big Cider county for the West Country.

In Cornwall there is a range of traditional ciders such as the previous mentioned Scrumpy Cider which is a strong cyder that can be bought medium dry and medium sweet at 7.4% alcohol volume.

Recently a new Cider has started becoming popular across the UK. The beverage that I speak of is the Cornish Rattler. This cider was originally only available in draught format, but after requests from numerous customers they have now bottled it. Made to be different in taste and appearance, this cloudy Cornish cyder is 6% ABV and sparkling. It was voted Best Bottled Cider at ciderfestivals.co.uk 2008. If I was to recommend you try any Cider it would be the Cornish Rattler, I feel its taste retains the original Cider taste but then adds certain delicate sweetness which is not sickly and compliments the original cider taste well.

So with Rattler now available in your local retailers I would recommend you go and check it out, if you like cider you won’t be disappointed.

Doctor Who holds the Guinness record for the longest-running science fiction television show in the world, airing from 1963 till today. For those unfamiliar with the show (really inexcusable I might say!!) Doctor Who (or The Doctor) is a humanoid alien, a Time Lord, whose planet has been destroyed and is travelling through space and time with a time machine called TARDIS, exploring the universe and helping the helpless. TARDIS looks like a blue British police box, a common sight in Britain during the 60s when the show first appeared. Through the years, it has become a trademark of the show. Doctor Who has faced many enemies through the course of the show, the oldest and most significant ones being the Daleks, an alien race whose sole purpose is to destroy all beings inferior to them. Martin Wallace, a well-known independent board game designer from U.K., undertook the challenging task of recreating the atmosphere of the show in a rather simple card game. Let’s see how the game measures up to its theme and how appealing it is in general as a card game.

Game Overview

Although I am a huge sci-fi fan, I’ve seen very little of the renowned show. However as I sat down to play this game I had in my mind the general concept of “The Doctor”, his time-travelling machine and the atmosphere that the game should have. In my point of view, the fact that I’m not a hardcore fan of the game neither totally ignorant of the theme, makes me more suitable to write an objective review of the game. Let’s go through the basics of the game for starters:

In Doctor Who: The Card Game, players take the role of Doctor Who and his companions, trying to defend locations from various enemies but they also take the role of the “bad” guys, by sending enemies to attack other players’ locations. During each of their turns, players will have the opportunity to perform a number of actions, which involve playing cards. There are four different types of cards in the game:

Locations. Players will have to fight for the control of their own locations as well as their opponents’. Each location is worth a number of victory points at the end of the game.

Defenders. Defenders will be used to defend a player’s locations. There are actually 4 defenders, all based on the Doctor Who TV-series, each one with their own defense strength: The Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory and River Song

Enemies. Players send enemies to their opponents locations, trying to gain control of them. The enemies are well known races and monsters from the Doctor Who universe like The Daleks, Cybemen, the Sontarans and Davros. Each enemy has a different attack value.

Support cards. These are allies, special gadgets or events that will help a player or hinder his opponents.

At the beginning of the game, each player must pick a color and get 10 counters of the appropriate colour (5 DALEKS and 5 TARDIS). Daleks are used to indicate that we have placed an attacking enemy at an opponents’ location, whereas TARDIS are used to show that we have successfully defended a location of our own. Each player also gains a starting location which is chosen randomly. The player having the highest value starting location becomes the first player. All cards are shuffled in a face-down pile and 5 cards are dealt to each player except the player sitting to the right of the first player, who receives only two cards. There are also thirty time tokens in the game, which are set by the side of the draw deck.

Each player, during his turn, may play as many actions he wants, limited only by the fact that at the end of his turn he must give to the player on his right 3 cards. Extra cards may be bought during a player’s turn using time counters, that can be gained with a number of ways. Available actions a player may do during his turn are:

play a location card in front of him. He receives a number of time counters as indicated on the card

play one or more defenders on a location owned by him. The defender cards are played face-down on a location, leaving part of it uncovered so as the value of the location is not hidden. You cannot play two or more of the same Defender card on a given location

play an enemy card on an opponents’ location. In contrast to defenders, in general, only one enemy may be placed on each opponents’ location (exceptions do exist). The enemy card is placed face down near the location under attack and the attacking player puts a DALEK counter on the location under attack

play a support card

discard one or two cards to gain a time counter for each card discarded

buy cards by paying five time counters for each one

put one or more cards in the reserve. Players may put up to 2 cards in the reserve (face down in front of them) in order to use them in a later round. The size of the reserve may increase using certain support cards

There is no cost for playing any of the cards a player owns and players can perform any number of the above actions. A certain action can be performed more than once. At any case, the active player must end up with 3 cards which he must give to the player on their right. At the end of a player’s turn, he draws 2 cards from the supply and puts them in his hand. After the first player, play continues clockwise as usual.

The most interesting point in the game is combat, which occurs whenever a defender and an enemy card have been played at a given location. All defender and enemy cards are then revealed and their strength is compared. If the defender’s total strength is equal to or greater than the attacker’s, the defender wins. All attackers and defenders are discarded and the defending player puts a TARDIS counter on the location card to indicate that it is under the Doctor’s control. If the enemy wins, all defenders are discarded and the attacker must discard one or more enemy cards with total strength less or equal to the total strength of the defender.

The game ends when a player has all of his DALEK or TARDIS counters in play or when the Game End card is revealed (it is initially put on top of the 20 last cards of the draw deck). In the first case, the game ends immediately, while in the second one an “End Game” period starts, during which players continue to take turns but are obliged to take a single action and they don’t draw cards at the end of their turn. They don’t pass cards to the player on their right either of course. This period ends when a player cannot perform an action. Then all players count the victory points on their locations that are not under attack plus the enemy locations they have their DALEK counters on. The player with the most victory points is the winner.

Components

The game’s components are cards and tokens. The tokens are standard cardboard ones with nothing special to be comment on. The cards however deserve a special mention as they are all beautifully illustrated with much attention to detail. The colors used in the illustrations carry the feel of the game and all pictures are of high detail. All cards enhance the theme of the game and the artwork is so awesome that truly captures the eye and sets a unique atmosphere, especially the location and monster cards. Design of the components leaves really nothing more to be desired. 9/10

Gameplay

Usually one has not many expectations regarding gameplay when it comes to such “small” games. And when I say “small” I mean having few components and a short duration, usually called “filler” games. It is truly a big accomplishment when a game designer manages to produce a game of enough complexity and depth that can appeal to hardcore gamers out of so little material, while also keeping the mechanics simple enough for more casual gamers. From this aspect I find Doctor Who: The Card Game a rare gem that deserves a place in everyone’s game library, no matter if he is a Doctor Who fan or not or if he is a casual or hardcore gamer. The game starts aggressively right from the start, when everyone’s put down his starting location. The concept of playing cards for free, that means without having to pay a cost as it is usually done in most drafting games, gives a refreshing tone to the gameplay and allows players to develop their strategy with more freedom.

Choices are hard in every round as during each turn players have 5 cards in hand but must hand out to the player on their right, 3 of them. That is the core of the gameplay and the mechanic that gives the game a strategic aspect and depth that you will all appreciate. Which cards should you play and which should you pass? The idea of having a reserve is also interesting and adds to the depth, giving you the opportunity to set your game up the way you want in future turns. Another aspect of the game that I liked is the way conflicts are resolved. Enemies and defenders are placed blindly and are revealed only when both are present on a given location. Very clever idea that maintains a feel of suspense, as you never really know if you have won a location until the conflict is resolved. It feels that Martin Wallace has hit the nail on the head with this one, reminding us how talented he truly is! 9/10

Learning Curve

Despite the many interesting mechanics of the game, rules are kept simple as they should be for a game of this category. The 12-page rulebook can be read within about 10 minutes (in reality the rules are only 9 pages and there a lot of pictures too). At first the mechanics of the game may seem a bit strange but after playing your first game, you will have it all figured out. 7/10

Theme

The game’s theme is supported in every way in the game. From the intuitive TARDIS and DALEK counters to the characters used as Defenders and Enemies and the support cards. The locations all reflect the theme of the game, some set on earth and others on alien planets. Characters from the most recent episodes of the famous TV show are used as the defenders, while the biggest enemies of the doctor have been chosen to serve as the enemies in the game. Support cards feature objects used by the Doctor throughout the years along with special characters and events that boost the thematic character of the game. During my first play, I constantly felt being a part of the Doctor Who universe, I was completely drawn to it. The only thing that felt a bit strange is the fact that you are playing with the “good” guys in general but when you send enemies to opponents’ locations, you take the role of the “bad” guys. That feels a bit strange, disorients you and takes back some of the immersion. I think it would be better if roles were more distinct but that would probably lead to a whole new game. The fact remains that after playing for the first time, it really made me want to catch up with the TV show, maybe try to find some of the older episodes too. 9/10

Replayability

Doctor Who: The Card Game has enough depth and strategy that will ensure that you will have the desire to play it at any given time. It could surely act not only as a filler game but as the main game at the table, with consecutive plays. It’s that addictive! 8/10

Fun:

I really had a lot of fun, playing Doctor Who. There is enough player interaction through attacking your opponents locations and defending your own from attacks and there is a lot of suspense too as you wonder what enemies / defenders your opponents have placed on locations. Every aspect of the game seems to contribute to the fun factor, from the intuitive drafting mechanic to the illustrations on the cards and the feel of the theme. Time will pass fast, with this game, as you constantly have hard choices to make, endless unknown enemies to fight and control of the various locations will change many times during the game. Pure fun if you ask me! 8/10

Thanksgiving Day comes once a year in the U.S., but every day there are people in our lives who deserve our thanks. Sometimes a simple “Thank you” is appropriate. At other times, it is more thoughtful to be creative in expressing appreciation. It’s just good business.

Here are some suggestions for thanking people at work, at home, and in the community.

1. When you say “Thank you” tell the person specifically what it is you appreciate and why you appreciate it. “Thank you for going to the Post Office for me. It saved me a lot of time.”

2. Send an e-mail note. When I sent a thank you note to my staff in the Pentagon, the energy level shot up.

3. Send a hand-written thank you note. These are noteworthy because so few of us take time to write and mail them.

4. Place an unexpected phone call just to say “Thank you.” Connecting verbally adds warmth to your appreciation even if you reach voice mail.

5. Present a small certificate. Half-page certificates take up less space if displayed and are as meaningful as full sized certificates. They tend to draw attention because they are different.

6. Give a single flower from your garden, flowerpot, or florist, with a verbal “Thank you” or a note.

7. Put a candy bar or piece of fruit on the desk of the person to be thanked, with or without a note. (Be sure the person is not on vacation!)

8. Bake some cookies. This is especially effective when men bake and present a few cookies in thanksgiving.

9. Say something nice about the recipient of your thanks to someone else when the person you appreciate can overhear you. This is especially powerful in a business setting.

10. For special occasions, present a US flag that has flown over the Capitol. It is a unique , reasonably priced item which few people own. A certificate of authenticity is provided in honor of any special occasion you designate. Call your congressman’s office and ask for it. If you don’t have a local contact, call 202 224-3121 and ask for your congressman or congresswoman by name. When you reach that person’s office, ask to purchase a flag. They’ll know what to do!